Grrr....

I've been trying to get this to layout properly, but I can't seem to get it. Oh well, at least I got some photos up. I'm definitely getting better! :)

A few vacation photos!

Today was Day 3 of working out. It's been a while, but I'm finally hitting the gym again. Last night, one of the trainers stopped me and said he was glad to see me again. He'd noticed I hadn't been there for a few weeks. I smiled sheepishly and said that I'd been a slacker and that if Ricky could see what kind of shape I was in now, he'd kill me. Lifted for the first time in months yesterday. It was legs, and I don't feel to badly today. I did arms and back today, and I know I'll feel it tomorrow. Hell, my arms feel weak right now.

Here are a few pictures from my trip. I was only going to put a few, but it makes me so happy looking through them, that I added more than I anticipated. It was such a wonderful vacation and I'm looking forward to our next one. :)

Me, outside of New York, New York.

This was at the Shark Reef in Mandalay Bay. JP wasn't much into touching an animal that had killed the Crocodile Hunter... Now I can say I've pet a shark and a Sting Ray.

I can't say this is a job I would want. This is at MGM Grand. Two guys were inside, playing ball with two, very large, lions. The were so much like little kittens playing... except for the sharp teeth and big paws thing.

Best wine cellar. Ever. My guess is the most expensive wines are at the top. The servers literally strap themselves in and use the pulleys to get to the level of wine they need.

A beautiful shot of the city at night. It was an amazing sight and a wonderful place for our first vacation together.

What a trip!

Vegas was such a great trip, although throughly exhausting! We saw all the sights, walked the strip until our entire bodies were sore, ate at the buffets, gambled a bit and stayed up until our eyes wouldn't stay open anymore. You know... the whole Vegas experience.

Flying in at night was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. It was just a sea of lights! We were staring and pointing out landmarks from the plane as if we were little kids. We had never seen anything quite like it before. Absolutely beautiful!

We met up with some of my college friends and some of JP's friends a few nights, which was fun. We went to Pure, which is suppose to be the hottest club in the country right now. Although we had VIP passes, it really only meant that we could stand in the VIP line for 2 hours instead of the other line. We tried the whole handshake/money exchange with the bouncers. Notice I said try. JP had a deal all worked out, but one guy was mad that he wasn't getting enough of the cut and wouldn't let us in. Anyway, we spent most of the time up on the roof watching the lights. We didn't see where all the celebrities were partying, but evidently it wasn't where we were. :)

On my actual birthday, it was a bit more low-key which I enjoyed. We ordered room service for breakfast and just spent the day together, not running around too much. That night, we got dressed up and ate at the Eiffel Tower Resturant in Paris. We had the best seats! We were right by the windows, overlooking the strip and looking towards the Belligio's fountains. The food was amazing, the wine was even better and there were too many desserts to choose from. I told JP not to get me a gift, since he was coming out to Vegas. He wanted to take me shopping so I could pick out whatever I wanted, but I declined. Call me crazy, but I just didn't feel right getting a gift on top of everything else.

Contrary to popular belief, we didn't get married while in Vegas. Both of our offices were sure we would come back married. I told him we should find the cheesiest wedding chapel and get our picture taken in front of it, send it back to everyone without a message. We only saw a few of the neon lights, Elvis type chapels and we were always on a shuttle so we couldn't get a picture. I must say, I was very impressed with the other chapels we did see. They were beautiful.

The work portion was a blur, as I was working insane hours on very few hours of sleep. Everything went off without a hitch and I was glad to be returning home. A full week is a long time to be away from hom, but even longer being in Vegas. We took a ton of pictures (nearly 200) so I'll have to post some later.

I'm actually working from home today since I have, yet again, another doctor's appointment. And, after a month of nothing, I started back at the gym last night. It felt so good to be there and active again. No races on the schedule yet, but I need to start training for something. It just keeps me so much more motivated. Anyway, we'll see what the doctor says today. Hopefully I'll be able to keep running.

I've been told what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas...

... guess I'll find out.

Yep, I'm heading to the airport in a little bit to catch my flight to Vegas. JP and I are flying out tonight and we're meeting up with some friends over the weekend. I have to be out there next week for work, so I thought why not make it a long weekend. Neither of us have been there, so I'm looking forward to it!

I've been MIA for a while -- been in a bit of a slump. My health hasn't been very good, and it sometimes puts me in a hibernation stage. I don't like going out, I don't like seeing anyone, I basically want to be miserable by myself... I think I'm getting out of it, and hopefully the change of scenery will help jump start it.

Happy New Year!

Happy, happy - as I would say when I was about 3 years old. My parents always had parties and, at midnight, everyone was toasting each other and giving kisses to everyone. Apparently, I wanted in on the action too and walked around saying, "happy, happy' with outstretched arms so people would pick me up and kiss me, too.

Yesterday, we started off the day with a fabulous brunch in Birmingham. There, I received a very generous gift from his dad, as all the girlfriends did. From there, as tradition for the family, the girls went shopping (which was the purpose of my gift) and they men went to do their thing. We ran around Sommerset for a few hours and I didn't find a single thing to wear for our New Years Even dinner. I hadn't really thought about what I was wearing until the mall closed and I still had nothing. Not that I don't have a million things in my closet, but it's always nice to have something new.

I managed to pull something together and we had dinner with his family, as is their tradition, at Andiamo's in the RO. It was a lovely, several course meal. Complete with a champagne toast at midnight. Although I can't drink (which has really sucked with his dad in town, because he orders some really good wine at every meal), I snitched some wine with my dinner and fully enjoyed my champagne (yum! my absolute favorite). Started to feel a little sick, but no spinning rooms like the last time I thought it would be a good idea to mix alcohol and meds...

In Haiti, today is their Independence Day. It is a big day there and everyone has a huge meal with their family. Think our Thanksgiving. So tonight is another big meal. Back to the gym... ?